CENSUS 2021: Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion

The CENSUS 2021 in England and Wales published data about ethnic group, national identity, language, and religion. The release included four publications: National identity, Religion, Language and Ethnic Group.

Ethnicity

In Trafford the percentage of white population has decreased by 7.7% from 85.5% in 2011 to 77.8% in 2021.

The most common non-white broad ethnic group is Asian/Asian British that has increased 4.7% from 7.9% in 2011 to 12.6% in 2021. All other non-white broad ethnic groups have also increased.

The percentage of households in Trafford where all household members have the same ethnic group has decreased 1.7% from 60.7% in 2011 to 59% in 2021. The percentage of households where ethnic groups differ within partnerships has increased 1.9% from 5.8% in 2011 to 7.7% in 2021. The percentage of households where ethnic groups differ between generations but not within partnerships has decreased 0.4% from 2.3% in 2011 to 1.9% 2021.

	2011	2021	Change
White	85.5%	77.8%	-7.7%
Non- White	14.5%	22.3%	7.8%

	2011	2021	Change
Asian	7.9%	12.6%	4.7%
Mixed	2.7%	3.8%	1.1%
Black	2.9%	3.4%	0.5%
Other	1%	2.5%	1.5%

Trafford Non-White ethnicities by MSOA, Census 2021

Contains OS data ©; Crown copyright and database right 2022
Source: Census 2021 | @traffordDataLab

National identity

“British only” national identity was the most common response in 2021 with 62.1% whilst in 2011 the most common response was “English only”, this change could reflect a change in national identity but can also reflect a change to the question structure.

Residents with “Non-UK only” identity increased 1.4% from 6.1% in 2011 to 7.5% in 2021. The most common non-UK identity in 2021 was “Irish” with 1.1% followed by “Polish” with 0.6%.

	2011	2021	Change
B* only	20.8%	62.1%	41.3%
E* and B* only	9.8%	13.4%	3.6%
E* only	60.2%	13%	-47.2%
Non-UK only	6.1%	7.5%	1.4%
UK and non-UK	0.8%	2.3%	1.5%
W* only	0.5%	0.3%	-0.2%
W* and B* only	0.1%	0.2%	0.1%

B* = British, E* = English and W* = Welsh

Languages

In 2021 92.8% of Trafford residents aged three and over declared English as their main language, a person’s first or preferred language, a 1.7% decrease from 2011. The top 5 non-English main languages in Trafford in 2021 were Urdu (0.9%), Polish (0.6%), Arabic (0.6%), Panjabi (0.4%) and Cantonese Chinese (0.4%). These differ from England and Wales top 5 non-english main languages in 2021 which were Polish (1.1%), Romanian (0.8%), Panjabi (0.5%), Urdu (0.5%), and Portuguese (0.4%).

In 2021, 6% of Trafford residents aged three and over can speak English very well or well, and 1.2% cannot speak English or cannot speak English very well, out of the 7.2% whose main language is not English. In 2011, the equivalent figures were 4.4% and 1.1% respectively, out of the 5.5% whose main language was not English in 2011.

	2011	2021	Change
English	94.5%	92.8%	-1.7%
Other language	5.5%	7.2%	1.7%

	2011	2021	Change
Urdu	0.7%	0.9%	0.2%
Polish	0.8%	0.6%	-0.2%
Arabic	0.3%	0.6%	0.3%
Panjabi	0.4%	0.4%	0%
Cantonese Chinese	0.1%	0.4%	0.3%

Religion

In 2021, 48.4% of Trafford residents described themselves as “Christian”, a 15% decrease from 63.4% in 2011. 33.1% declared “No Religion” in 2021, an 11.9% increase from 21.2% in 2011. 13.3% declared Non-Christian religion in 2021, a 4.3% increase from 9% in 2011. 8.7% described themselves as “Muslim” in 2021, the most common non-Christian religion, a 3% increase from 5.7% in 2011.

The Census 2021 included for first time information about religious group composition within multi-person households. In 35.5% of Trafford households all members who answered the question about religion reported the same religion within the household and 14.4% reported a combination of the same religion and “No religion”.

	2011	2021	Change
Christian	63.4%	48.4%	-15%
No religion	21.2%	33.1%	11.9%
Other religion	9%	13.3%	4.3%
Religion not stated	6.3%	5.1%	-1.2%

	2011	2021	Change
Muslim	5.7%	8.7%	3%
Hindu	1%	2%	1%
Jewish	1.1%	1%	-0.1%
Sikh	0.7%	0.8%	0.1%
Buddhist	0.3%	0.4%	0.1%